Love and Other Chemicals
by That Oddball Otaku
Summary: Nosaki Muumo goes to her daily infirmity duties with her usual pep, but things take a turn for the worse when her clumsiness interferes. Oneshot; Possible spoilers for Shuu and Ryouta's routes. Human!ShuuxOC, One-sided RyoutaxHiyoko


_Author's Notes:_

_Hi! Welcome to my first Hatoful Boyfriend fanfiction. I don't really know if it's any good or not, so please don't hesitate to leave a review, positive or negative._

_What inspired me to write this is when I was playing Hatoful with my friend and we were playing Shuu's route. Since you get the option to choose Hiyoko's name at the beginning, we named her Nosaki Muumo. Honestly, if this fanfic were for any of the other routes, I would have just left Hiyoko as herself in this. But it's not. Muumo was the only character of mine who I really connected with and developed a personality and appearance for in my head. I really sympathized with her for the one-sided love that originally happened in Shuu's route, especially in the un-extended version. So I really wanted to write a small oneshot about her. Please, _please _don't hate me for using my character from Hatoful! Also, my the friend who I played Shuu's route with may be writing a fanfic with Muumo in it, too, but I don't know if she'll be posting it on here or not. So if you see another fanfic with Nosaki Muumo in it, please PM me, and I'll confirm if it was her or someone who didn't have permission to use Muumo. Thanks!_

_P.S. I put both Hiyoko and OC in the characters because I wasn't sure which to use. P: Really, Muumo's just a ditzier, more lovey-dovey version of Hiyoko, so I was torn._

_Anyway, enough of my rambling! Sorry for the holdup!_

* * *

The heavy sound of the young sophomore's footsteps echoed rather noisily as she sprinted down the hallway, a strained expression on her face. Some of the other students shot the girl annoyed looks as she brushed passed them ("Sorry! I'm late!" she told them urgently), but it didn't matter; it was already past the time that Nosaki Muumo was supposed to be in the infirmary, and she didn't want to disappoint Mr. Iwamine. He was a little scary when he got mad – but she didn't mind much. Being near the Doctor was enough for her, even if he was angry.

Muumo stopped in front of the infirmary's door, tucked a strand of her bright, orange hair behind her ear, took a deep breath, and burst through the door.

"I'm sorry! I'm really sorry! I won't be late again, I promise! I'll make it up to you, okay? Just give me plenty of work to do! I'm sorry!" Muumo shouted, her eyes screwed shut. As she waited for a response, I opened one eye cautiously and surveyed the room.

Doctor Iwamine was sitting at his desk, as she had expected he would be. His pale, violet eyes – just a few shades away from her royal purple irises – were still fixed on his papers, peering through the lenses of his glasses intently. After a few moments, he spoke.

"You really are too loud, Miss Nosaki." He said flatly.

"I'm sorry, sir!" Muumo exclaimed, her eyes wide.

"Also," He continued, in a voice that gave her the impression that he was maybe, just a _little _bit annoyed, "do you realize what day it is?"

"It's, umm…" Muumo murmured thoughtfully, puffing up one of her cheeks with air, "it's…Thursday, isn't i- _Oooohhh. _Right! I wasn't supposed to come in today!"

_Of course! How could she have forgotten? I haven't seen the Doctor all day, so I guess I was looking forward to infirmary duties a lot and it just slipped my mind. Oops!_

"Indeed you weren't." He said, standing up and sliding the papers into a drawer in his desk, and then locking it with a key he produced from his lab coat's pocket. "Luckily, I finished a little while ago with one of my more…_thorough _examinations. We wouldn't want something happening to you, now, would we?"

_Did I see a smile, just now?_

It had seemed a little different from a normal smile, but the Doctor wasn't exactly "normal." So Muumo said nothing, and offered a tiny smile.

"Sorry, sir," She said, for the millionth time, "I'll go now."

The clumsy girl had just placed her hand on the doorknob, when…

"Wait. Since you're here, maybe you _can _help."

Success! Muumo abruptly turned on her heel and darted over to where the Doctor stood.

"Great! What d'ya need?"

He waved his hand vaguely at the counter, where many bottles of medicine sat.

"Just organize those supplies and get out."

So, with a cheerful, "yes, sir!" Miss Nosaki got down to work, handling every container with the utmost importance and organizing them in alphabetical order.

_There's a lot to do, _Muumo thought, as she stared down the many bottles, containers and vials,_ but I can't let I discourage me, because I can't let Mister Iwamine down!_

After a few minutes of sorting, Muumo got the nerve to ask a question that had been hazily floating around in the back of her mind for a few days.

"Sir?"  
No reply. Shuu kept working.

"Do you think that Yu- Sakazaki will be back from his trip soon?"

Yuuya, the other assistant in the infirmary, had disappeared recently. Doctor Iwamine told Muumo that Yuuya has told him he was leaving on a trip a few weeks ago. And although she trusted Mr. Iwamine completely, the question of when he was getting back had been nagging at her for a while.

At first, she thought he had completely brushed her off. The only sounds that could be heard were Muumo moving the medicines around and the _tak tak _of students' feet in the hallways. But then a reply came.

"Mister Sakazaki is currently preoccupied. He won't be back for a long time. Hohoho."

"Wow! He must be pretty busy, then."

"Hmph."

There were a few more moments of silence after that.

"Err…" Muumo started to say, subconsciously fiddling with the bottle she was currently holding.

"What _now?" _The Doctor snapped at her. He had had enough of her questions. She was probably getting suspicious of Mister Sakazaki's whereabouts by now. She didn't need anymore information.

"Umm…" Muumo said awkwardly, fingering the cap of the container, "what do you think of…people who try to change themselves, just to earn the affection of someone else?"

Doctor Iwamine turned his sharp gaze on the nervous girl abruptly.

"I don't see how that's any of your concern, Miss Nosaki. Keep working."

"Y-Yes sir!"

Muumo spun around quickly, with a bit too much enthusiasm. For as she turned, as if in slow motion, the container she was holding flew out of her pale hands.

Miss Nosaki watched, aghast, as the sticky, colorless liquid the container was holding seeped out onto the counter, sizzling unpleasantly.

"_ACK!" _She squeaked. "I'm sorry, Sir! I'll take care of that right away!"

Since Muumo didn't see any cloths to wipe up the strange liquid with, she frantically grabbed the end of her shirt and started wiping it up. After a few moments, the liquid started seeping through, and she abruptly let it go.

_That stuff really hurts! _Muumo thought. She had barely even touched the liquid and yet it stung like fury. She raised her finger to examine it, and saw the tip of it smoking, just a little, and it looked as if a bit of her skin had been burned away.

By now, the odd substance had started burning a small hole in the counter. Muumo looked at it, a deep blush of embarrassment on her normally-pale face.

_Why are you so clumsy?! _She asked herself inwardly, tears of frustration creeping into her eyes. _You always ruin _everything!

Doctor Iwamine stood up with a sigh and walked over to the counter. He bent down and opened up the cabinet, pulling something out, and tossing it to Muumo carelessly.

"Use that to wipe it up. It's made of a special material, so it won't get disintegrated. I assumed you knew to handle Acid, but I guess I was wrong. Remind me not to let you near dangerous things, for everyone's good."

"That was…Acid?" Muumo mumbled sheepishly. She hadn't gotten a look at the label before she dropped it. "I'm sorry…I'll pay the damage costs!"

"I seriously doubt you have the money for that, Miss Nosaki. Fortunately for you, the school will cover it. If I had a say in it, you'd be in here working for me for a long time."

As Muumo was cleaning up the Acid, which had damaged the counter severely, she noticed a slight breeze against the lower section of her stomach. Muumo glanced downward curiously, to find that the Acid she had wiped up earlier had burned a large hole through the bottom of her shirt.

"…Noooo…." She moaned, "this uniform was supposed to last me the whole year…"

Muumo finished wiping up the remainder of the Acid, and stuck the bottle, which had a bit of fluid left in it, in the "A" section. She reached for another bottle when Doctor Iwamine interrupted her.

"That's enough. You can go."

"But-"

"_Go."_

So Muumo turned away from the counter and walked towards the door. Her hand lingered there for a second, and she murmured one last, "sorry, sir." Then she walked out of the door that, earlier, she had been so excited to enter.

The next day, Muumo and her best friend, Kawara Ryouta, walked along the halls of St. Pigeonation's together. Ryouta was casually chatting with her about school as they went, both occasionally stopping to laugh from time to time. Muumo had found a bit of cloth and crudely stitched a patch in her uniform; why waste a perfectly good uniform?

"It's elective period now," Ryouta pointed out.

"Yep." Muumo said, looking off into space distantly.

"And?" Ryouta asked, shooting her a weird look.

"And what?" Muumo asked. Ryouta had been behaving strangely lately. He seemed more annoyed than ever recently; she hoped she hadn't done something to make him cross with her. He never had been before. But Muumo's mind was in another place right now, and she wasn't thinking much about Ryouta right then.

"And, are you doing math again?"

"Yes, of course." She said nonchalantly.

"Would you be mad if I asked why?"

"_What?" _ Muumo exclaimed, her deep, purple eyes widening in shock, "Of _course _not! I couldn't ever be mad at you, Ryouta!"

"Well…" Ryouta started to say, "You haven't been yourself ever since the year started. We hardly ever walk home together anymore because you've been doing extra work in the infirmary. You used to hate math; now you do it every elective. And today you're being so distant! Is something wrong?"

"N-No!" Muumo practically shouted. Then after a moment, she looked down at her feet timidly, "I…disappointed Doctor Iwamine yesterday."

"Did he hurt you in any way?" Ryouta said, his eyes glinting darkly.

"Of course not!" The red-headed sophomore replied indignantly, "I just messed up and spilled some Acid. It wasn-"

"Why does Doctor Iwamine have acid in his room?" Ryouta asked, "Isn't that more of a chemical lab thing?"

"I didn't ask. I didn't want to make him more angry. Anyway, to answer your other question, I've been taking the math elective more because…well…"

Muumo stopped to think her next sentence through, a blush seeping through onto her cheeks.

"Well, what if I bump into someone…I don't know who, a crush, maybe, who liked smarter people (this is all hypothetical, of course!)…and all of a sudden, out of the blue, they ask me a math question? I have to think about these things, you know!"

Ryouta looked over at Muumo, expecting anger. But all he saw on her face was clean-cut determination.

Muumo never had been good at lying, especially not to Ryouta. In fact, she hated lying to him. So she selected part of the truth. There were rumors going around at school that Doctor Iwamine liked smarter girls, so even though she hated math, Muumo took it as an elective every time. Just in case.

Really, she wasn't even sure how or why she had fallen in love with the Doctor, who was at least a decade older than her, a member of the staff, and had a bad reputation. But something about him intrigued her; she loved the mysteriousness surrounding him, and though she wanted to know everything about him, she never pried. He would tell her when he was ready, if such a time came, or not at all. Muumo thought he was quite handsome, too, but that was at the bottom of her list of reasons to like him. Yuuya or even Ryouta were good-looking, too, but she had never fallen in love with either of them.

"That's an odd reason, but I'll respect it." Ryouta murmured.

"I have to get to Mister Kazuaki's classroom now, before math class starts. Do you want to come with me, Ryouta, or choose another elective?"

"I'll come along, of course!" Ryouta exclaimed, "We're friends, right? We have to stick together."

Muumo flashed him a sweet, trademark smile, and the two walked off to class. But still, Ryouta was left with one question on his mind, one, he decided, would be better off left alone.

_Why did you ignore my question about hanging around the infirmary after school instead of walking home together?_


End file.
